Proverbs (2013)

How's this woman's ad on a popular dating site? "Not afraid of hard work. Owns successful business. Invests money for maximum profit. Believes wife should help, enhance, and honor husband. Does everything with grace and kindness." Listen to this lesson to learn what the Bible says about the traits of an ideal wife and see how they're not the ones we usually think of today. Discover how the woman in Proverbs 31 cares for her family and those around her. Find out how her husband and children will praise her and she will be honored in Heaven.

"My Foolish Heart" "Fools in Love" So many pop song lyrics through the ages have been about fools. Listen to this lesson to learn that the Bible has a lot to say about fools, too. Find out which questions fools ask that need to be answered and which ones are just distractions and should be exposed with humility and respect. Discover how an reductio ad absurdum argument reduces what fools say to the absurd and how we can offer the fountain of life to those who so desperately need it. Also includes 1 Peter 3:15-17

Don't be a motor mouth! Our tongues are barometers of our thinking so don't say the first thing that pops into your mind. Listen to this lesson to learn how our words have a tremendous impact on others and on ourselves. See what it means to criticize and judge and why our words can be like a boomerang coming back to destroy us. Understand that the most important words we can say are ones that showcase God's love. See how to avoid being a gossip, a talebearer, or badmouthing others as we respect people's privacy.

To spank or not to spank? That is the question. Most child psychologists and social workers will tell you it is harmful and cruel. Listen to this lesson to discover that the Word of God insists that physical punishment done right and lovingly is necessary. Find out how to correctly train each child individually according to his personality to help him find a successful path for his life. Accept that parenting is hard work and principles must be taught over and over.

"Me! Me! Me! It's all about me. You may think it's about you but it's really all about me!" None of us would say this out loud but it's what we think. Listen to this lesson to learn about the enemy of every believer called the sin nature. See how Proverbs teaches that character must be taught from the crib and that no one is born with self control or discipline. Discover how God the Holy Spirit enhances moral values and makes them spiritual values that lead to character transformation.

"He's a straight arrow." That's high praise but what does it mean? Is it possible for a believer to have personal righteousness in this day and age? Listen to this lesson to learn about God's perfect, unshakeable character. Find out about the loss of absolutes in today's culture and how most live in a morass of subjectivity, basing their behavior on how they feel. See why those who hold to the morality taught in God's Word should be prepared to be hated by those who hold to relative standards.

"Wake up! Boss is coming! Better get busy!" Are these familiar sounds where you work? Listen to this lesson to see if you measure up as a wise worker. Learn how the Word of God is the path to lasting wealth and why it's not the size of your bank balance but what's in your soul that counts. Discover the only thing you can take with you when you die.

"Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's off to work we go." This cheerful little ditty sung by the seven dwarfs in Snow White lays out a blueprint for how we should tackle our work. Listen to this lesson to learn why God designed work for us to do from the beginning of creation and the positive spiritual value that comes from accomplishing it. Find out how the diligence we display in our daily work is the same as we need to apply in our Christian life. Discover eight warnings against being a sluggard and what we can learn from watching ants.

Party time! Every day you get two festive invitations. One is from Lady Wisdom and the other from the Foolish Woman. Let this lesson in Proverbs show you the rich rewards of choosing the right party to attend and the sad, self-destructive results of the wrong one. Discover the daily pattern for developing wisdom and God's red flag warning of the scoffer's miserable downfall. Find out what the seven pillars of Lady Wisdom are.

Does God know more today than He did in the past? Is He learning from what is happening around Him? Listen to this lesson to find out how God's knowledge has no beginning and no end and that when He began His creation, He already knew all that is knowable. See how living by God's truths leads to stability, contentment, and happiness that doesn't depend on what's going on around us. Discover the contrast between the rich full life of those who find wisdom and the death-like existence of those who hate wisdom.

What do you fear most? Tornadoes? Hurricanes? Losing your job? Cancer? The death of a loved one, or even your own death? Proverbs tells us one thing we should really be fearing. Listen to this lesson to understand the true meaning of the "fear of the Lord" and the many blessings and benefits that follow. Discover how being oriented to the authority of God is the glue that holds everything together. See the importance of governments having leaders who fear the Lord.

Want to save yourself a lot of trouble? Then listen to this lesson in Proverbs to learn how to wise up. You won't find the answer on TV or in college classrooms or from a mystical spiritual guru. Instead discover how studying God's written word, the Bible, shows us the solution to all of life's problems. See how God makes His plan clear so no one has an excuse to say they didn't know what to do. Find out the only two choices available: one leading to happiness and success and the other to foolish and senseless blunders.

Are you just snoozing your way through life? Not actually sleeping, but are you clueless about what really matters? Listen to this lesson to learn how to steer clear of three traps you set for yourself that lead to misery. See how watching ants can teach us diligence and find out the caution against taking responsibility for another's debts. Observe the seven characteristics of troublemakers that God hates.

Run! Get away and out of here as fast as you can! This is the advice Proverbs gives when we're tempted to have sex outside of marriage. Listen to this lesson to learn the difference between Joseph's notable showdown with adultery and David's foolish, sinful downfall. Find out three categories of devastating end results to sexual sins and see how God's corrective prescription leads to genuine sexual fulfillment in marriage. This lesson also includes Proverbs 7:1-27.

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions! How many decisions do we make in just one day? Added all together these make up the texture of our lives. This lesson in Proverbs tells us that we need to have a focus of listening, studying, learning, and obeying God's Word to shape our decisions. Listen and learn how having the right priorities lends a richness to everything we do that nothing else can. Find out the thirteen actions we can apply that include our tongues and our eyes.

Warning! Danger Ahead! Signs like this alert us to looming disasters. Fathers are told in Proverbs to teach children what will keep them out of blind alleys and detours. With the wrong mental attitudes they can be run over by the things that happen but by choosing to follow the wisdom in God's Word they are able to stand up and walk through life's storms with their heads held high. Listen to this lesson to learn the difference between a proverb and a promise. Accept the challenge of not growing weary and giving up but keeping on traveling the path that shines ever brighter to the end.

Does it take a village to raise a child? This misguided notion insists that training children must be a joint effort of schools, families, and government organizations. Proverbs 4 places the teaching of good judgment and clear thinking solely on the shoulders of parents. Listen to this lesson to learn the role of the father in the generational transfer of wisdom and how fathers should develop a plan to instruct their children from infancy to adulthood. Learn what wrong thinking lies beneath the beliefs of Plato, Rousseau, and others who hold that children belong to the community. See how wisdom is not always a matter of right or wrong and common sense is not so common.

Doomsday scenarios can strike terror in hearts in the middle of the night. Stock market crashes. Attacks on our country. Personal problems. Proverbs teaches us that when we focus on the Word of God we can sleep without fear. Just as God used His infinite wisdom to create the world, He offers wisdom to those who make learning and applying His Word a priority. He promises protection and the security that our steps are ordered by Him. Listen to this lesson to learn how creation is the foundation to everything else in the Bible. See how we are to treat those who ask for help with generosity and why we shouldn't envy the wicked when they prosper.

"Bless you." "Have a blessed day." Are these just airy greetings with little meaning? When we think of blessing and its synonym, happiness, we think of money in the bank, a big salary, vitality, and brilliant relationships. Proverbs tells us that God is offering us wisdom, which is worth more than all of these things and leads to true happiness. Nothing we wish for can hold a candle to wisdom. When we attain wisdom, we are promised enduring joy, long life, and recognition. The book of Proverbs explains the conditions God has attached to gaining His wisdom. Listen to this message to learn nine ways to help develop wisdom in your life and the ability to enjoy the exciting blessings that come with it.

This passage is organized into a verse with a command followed by a verse with consequences, and ends in two verses regarding correction. There are a number of irresistible consequences for obedience to God’s commands. You would think no one could consider turning away from such a positive, rewarding course resulting in a life with wisdom, guidance from God, lack of fear, direction over our finances and protection leading to abundant living. The reality of disobedience is God’s experience with man, so in the end He encourages us even when correction becomes the exercise of His love for us. God’s correction assures us that abandonment of His own is not a part of God’s nature, and because of that, we are blessed even in His chastening.

Proverbs chapter 2 focuses on God’s Word as our protection and shield. We see the importance of choosing the right path over the appeal of the world’s path in every decision we make. God’s wisdom here is protection against the promise of easy money and easy love relationships. The choice we make brings either joy in life or a death-like existence. The world entices us to abandon the path of righteousness and to walk in dark carnality. The only way to discern a beguiling lie from life-giving Truth is to know the nuances of difference through God’s Wisdom offered in the inspired scripture.

The prior four verses are the “if you will” verses which highlight volition and challenge commitment. Then what? Are the next verses a formula for predicting deliverance from adversity and ending in wisdom? Deliverance doesn’t precede wisdom. Wisdom precedes God’s protection. Passion of focus on intimacy with God and His Truth is liable to incur intense arrows of distraction to tempt and challenge every decision one makes to follow wisdom. Is this obstacle course ours to negotiate? God is the defender of His Truth. When we are absorbed in His truth He becomes our personal shield. A shield doesn’t prevent arrows. It deflects arrows which seek to diminish God’s Truth with the lies which lead to death and obstruct our path to wisdom. Click on the notes link below to access the Scripture Memory Plan Dr. Dean mentioned during this class.

Choices may fall into the category of wise and not so wise. The only way to discern this fine line requires a great deal of preparation through immersing oneself in the Word of God over time, because human viewpoint has a way of seeping through the most minute weak spot in our armor. Priority and passion for God’s instruction is a choice. It is the required foundation of the path to wisdom. Understand the essence of meaning behind the phrases, “Receive my words” and “Hide my commandments.” See how these concepts are themes which run throughout scripture. Understand the profound importance of memorizing scripture and the protection, strength and recovery exclusive to its availability in our minds. Click on the notes link below to access the Scripture Memory Plan Dr. Dean mentioned during this class.

The only knowledge that translates into wisdom is knowledge of the Truth. Enmeshment with Truth is an inseparable relationship. Enmeshment in today’s language implies a dysfunctional relationship where one allows another to define him. In the spiritual realm it is a positive term where we aspire to be defined by, and inseparable from, the Truth of God. Truth acts as our protection from absorbing cosmic thinking. Understand the expanded meanings of mercy and Truth and the imagery behind writing them and binding them. Know that trust is based on specific principles of scripture. Applied trust is certainty that fear has lost its power to intimidate and motivate in light of the Truth that is written on our hearts.

It’s never too late to understand the importance of getting God’s wisdom into our souls NOW, but NOW has a way of fading into yesterday which makes it too late to apply the wisdom we lost yesterday to the crisis we’re having today. God doesn’t make it difficult for us by hiding His wisdom under a rock. Wisdom, personified here as a woman, screams at us from every avenue of perception. The difficult choice is to continue to disregard it. But some do disregard it and become fools. Understand the different categories in the downward spiral of foolishness as we repeatedly reject obvious Truth. God’s offer of wisdom is continuous, but if you continually reschedule NOW to tomorrow, the guarantee is that foolishness gains momentum in your future.

A person can study philosophy and the minutia of ideas and still come up with only two ways of thinking; God’s way or the world’s way. Proverbs contrasts these as the way of the foolish and the way of the wise. Facts, reason and experience may fill 95% of your brain, but the 5% containing God’s revelation is the means of interpreting the 95% which can, if practiced, produce skillful living through wise choices. God doesn’t entice us to sin. He does test us, in prosperity or adversity, to give us opportunities to make decisions that allow us to grow. See the lessons in our passage on wisdom, taught as a father teaches his son, emphasizing choices. If you feel you lack wisdom, ask God for it. He wants us to have it.

Proverbs recognizes the family as the first environment for learning. Proverbs exhorts children to listen attentively and learn. Knowing is to comprehend facts. Wisdom is that knowledge applied. Wisdom begins with recognition of God’s authority. The facts that are applied as wisdom are taken from the manual God has provided in His Word. Any other source of wisdom taught in the home is a path to destruction. The chain of command over the child resides in both parents, beginning with the priority role of the father. Learn about the metaphors and their ties to antiquity, which describe the rewards for the child who obeys these commands. Wisdom is application of God’s absolute Truth. Wisdom is the parents’ legacy to their children which will defend, guard, protect and become their basis for rewards.

Wisdom’s source is God’s Truth. Wisdom resides in the mind before it can be the means for discernment and skillful living. Emotion can be a legitimate response to Truth, but emotion is not the criteria for legitimacy of the Word. Rather than being written in a time that makes Proverbs an imitation of previous writings, see how the correct presupposition of the opposite view is proven. Learn the structure of Proverbs’ poetry, how it is instructional, rhyming ideas, not words, and how it is embedded with challenges. See the foundational principle for all of Proverbs that fear of the Lord is the starting point for the knowledge which leads to skillful, wise living.

Proverbs, written primarily by Solomon but with other contributors, is a book of instruction, wisdom and poetry. We will study the meaning of Proverbs from the mind of the author, in historical context, and not through the erroneous wanderings of our own imaginations. Gifted by God with wisdom, and by the Holy Spirit with the preservation of these words, in the end, Solomon failed miserably. What ingredient do we add to knowledge and wisdom to obtain obedience and eternal value? Is wisdom the immediate gratification we get when we study this book? What is wisdom? Do knowledge and wisdom guarantee smooth sailing in life?